I, Hogwarts Week Two

Chapter 518: Scrimgeour's Visit

"Oh, dear Princess, I am honored to have you visit my humble home."

In front of the Burrow, Fred and George made funny gestures, bent down, and bowed slightly to Hermione who had arrived, with playful smiles on their faces.

"That's enough." Hermione glared at them both.

But this was obviously of no use, the twins were still chattering in her ears, provoking her with the words of the princess knight.

In the kitchen, everyone was distributing Mrs. Weasley's Christmas presents.

It was the same sweater every year, but the pattern on the chest was different. This year, the one he received had the Hufflepuff Holy Grail embroidered on the chest.

Miss Granger's was embroidered with a white crown.

Obviously, Mrs. Weasley had definitely changed it last night.

The twins gave him a large box of Wizard Wheezes products, and Harry gave him a crystal ball with a Quidditch field inside, where he could watch a Quidditch match by tapping it with his wand.

Hannah gave him a colorful headband.

What Luna sent was a necklace made of various gemstones, which was quite beautiful.

When they sat down to Christmas lunch, everyone wore new sweaters, except Mrs. Weasley herself.

Mrs. Weasley was wearing a brand new witch's hat, which was as deep blue as the night sky with diamonds sparkling like little stars, and a dazzling gold necklace.

"Fred and George gave it to me! Isn't it beautiful?"

"We're growing more and more grateful, Mum, and we're washing our own socks now," said George, with a dashing wave of his hand. "Need some parsnips, Hermione?"

"Oh, no, I think it's a bit bitter," said Hermione, shaking her head.

"This is the flavor of food." George put a handful of parsnips roots that looked like some kind of vegetable salad into his plate, and then asked, "By the way, our Queen, apart from some titles, didn't you give us any substantial rewards?"

Hermione put some braised meat on her plate. "Yes, there are some. In addition to some useless medals, His Majesty also granted me a small fiefdom."

"Fiefdom?" Fred's eyes lit up immediately. Everyone else looked at Hermione. "How big is it? Is it as big as London?"

"How is that possible?" Miss Granger said, "The royal family today is no longer the same as it was hundreds of years ago. The so-called fiefdom is actually just a castle and the forest around it."

"Oh my god! That means you have a castle now." Ginny looked at Hermione with a fiery face, "She is so generous."

"Generous?" Owen sneered, "That's abandoning bad assets."

"Non-performing assets?" Harry turned to look at him, "What does that mean?"

Owen looked around and saw everyone's fiery eyes. He couldn't help but sigh. They were still too young.

"There's a one-euro castle in France. Do you want to buy one?"

"One Euro?" Harry was stunned. Although he almost uttered the word "of course", since Owen asked, there must be a conspiracy. "Is it some kind of business trick?"

"Of course, otherwise they would sell it to you for one euro?" Owen rolled his eyes at him and slowly explained, "The castle is indeed one euro, but if you really buy it, you will be stepping into a trap. Because these castles are all cultural relics without exception. If you buy it, you have to undertake the work of restoration. This is stipulated by national law, and it will cost millions or even tens of millions of euros to restore such a castle."

"There are semi-abandoned castles all over Europe. They are a burden to the country and the cost of maintaining them is too high."

"Yes." Hermione confirmed on the other side. "I probably won't be able to save enough money to repair the castle in my lifetime."

"Okay." After hearing the reason, everyone lost interest. Fred said bluntly, "Your queen is really stingy. In other words, she actually gave you a ruin. Merlin's beard, she might as well give you an apartment in London."

"Oh, if she gives us benefits, she's our queen. If she doesn't, your queen is real enough." Owen joked.

The twins were about to say something, but their faces changed immediately. Harry immediately stood up from his chair and ran out in a panic.

"It's Sirius," said Ron. "And Percy."

"Percy?" Mrs. Weasley turned around immediately.

Everyone looked outside.

Outside the window, Percy and Sirius strode side by side through the snow.

The tortoise-shell framed glasses sparkled in the sunlight, and on the other side of him was a familiar wizard.

"Minister?" Mr. Arthur stood up.

"Sirius!!!" Harry's voice came from outside the window, and he rushed into his godfather's arms and gave him a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Harry." Sirius said with a smile, and then took out a package from his arms, "For you."

"I thought you wouldn't come back this year." Harry didn't care about the gifts at all.

"There's no time." Sirius said, "Okay, go in quickly, you're still wearing thin clothes."

On the other side, Percy returned home and Mrs. Weasley immediately went up to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey, the busy man is back." The twins joked. It has been more than a year since Percy joined the Union.

Especially in the current situation, it may become even less common in the future.

Scrimgeour paused in the doorway, leaning on his cane, and smiled at the touching scene.

"I'm sorry to bother you so much. I'm sorry to come to visit you without prior notice," he said. Mrs. Weasley turned to him, wiping her eyes with a smile. "Percy and Sirius were back doing some work and we just happened to run into them. We couldn't help but come and visit you."

Having said that, he didn't show much desire to greet others.

His eyes stayed on Harry, Hermione, Ron and others.

"What is he doing here?" Harry whispered to Sirius beside him in a corner of the house.

"Come and win you over." Sirius' expression was gloomy and uncertain, and he looked at Scrimgeour with a bit of contempt.

"Fight for us?"

"Just watch," he said.

On the other side, Mrs. Weasley said in a panic, "Come in, come in, Minister!" while straightening her hat, "It's our honor to have you here, please sit down and have some chicken or patch, I mean..."

<divclass="contentadv">"No, no, dear Molly." Scrimgeour said with a smile. Owen guessed that this guy probably asked Percy about her mother's name before entering the door. "I didn't want to disturb you, but the world is fickle. Alas!" He sighed to himself, and then said, "There is a situation that forces me to come here rashly."

"Don't say that, we all know your difficulties," said Mrs. Weasley.

"Thank you," said Scrimgeour, and then to Mr. Weasley, whose expression was a little stiff, "No need to entertain me specially, Arthur. Just treat me as you usually do in the Ministry."

The atmosphere at the table changed noticeably, and everyone's eyes were focused on Scrimgeour. His sudden appearance here made people feel uneasy. "Oh, the little ones have finished eating. Can you take a walk with me?"

The plates on the table were empty.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, their expressions somewhat heavy.

"Okay." Hermione was the first to break the silence.

As he spoke, he walked towards the garden behind the burrow.

As Scrimgeour watched, Harry and Ron followed.

Even then, Scrimgeour had not left.

"What? Is there something about me?" Owen looked up and glanced at the minister in surprise.

"Of course, you are the top priority. Also, Miss Stewart, come too." After he said this, he followed Harry and the others out of the restaurant.

Before Owen took a step, Sirius made the first move.

He ignored Scrimgeour and left the restaurant together.

Owen and Coatl crossed the yard toward the overgrown, snow-covered Weasley garden, Scrimgeour limping beside them, looking sturdy and battle-wounded, very different from the two previous civil servants.

“It’s very pretty,” said Scrimgeour, pausing before the garden hedge. “It’s a well-kept garden.”

His gaze lingered on Sirius for a second, as if he had been mentally prepared for his arrival.

"After all that has happened, what you've been through, I've been hoping to have a chance to talk to you since I took office," he said to Hermione, "but Dumbledore stopped me. I know what he's thinking, and we both have serious disagreements about the future of wizards."

"But these are not the most important things. The most important thing right now is to make people believe that we can defeat the devil who cannot even be named..."

"Not just you, Miss Granger, but - Harry." He looked at Potter. "People believe you're the saviour. You know. They think you're a hero - and you are, Harry, saviour or not! You've faced down He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named so many times."

What matters is that you are a symbol of hope to many people, Harry. It is natural that people would be encouraged to know that there are people who can, or are even destined to, destroy the great evil. I can't help but feel that once you realize this, you might feel almost obliged to cooperate with the law and give everyone confidence."

"Duty?" Sirius sneered as he followed. He knew this would happen. "I never knew there was such a thing as duty. Scrimgeour said you are making too much of it."

"And if you are well-informed, you should know what Voldemort's current state is."

"I know, Sirius," said Scrimgeour, frowning, "but it could only have been destroyed by Muggle weaponry."

"That's not possible." Sirius said forcefully, "Muggles killed him, but he can be resurrected."

"resurrection?"

"Just like more than ten years ago. In fact, Voldemort has changed his body three times. If he can be resurrected this time, this will be his fourth body!"

"Like [The Pretender]?"

"I don't think that's a thing," said Sirius.

"Okay." Scrimgeour said, "But that's not important. What's important is that the You-Know-Who is not dead and will come back, right?"

As he spoke, he turned his attention to Hermione again, "My dear, you shouldn't get too close to Muggles."

"I don't think it's a mistake." Hermione responded calmly when she was suddenly spoken of.

"This is a very serious matter. And--" Scrimgeour's expression became grim, no longer as gentle as before, or perhaps he was used to such an expression and was just pretending.

"All the information about You-Know-Who that Dumbledore should tell me."

Harry was silent, looking at the gnome footprints around the flower beds and at the patch of turned earth where Fred had caught the gnome, who was now standing on top of the Christmas tree in a tutu.

“Suppose Muggle weapons did kill You-Know-Who,” said Scrimgeour, “but he has died several times and always comes back to life. How is that possible? What kind of magic is that, and what kind of magic is contained in those lost ancient relics?”

He seemed impatient and a little annoyed.

"That's enough, Scrimgeour, this is none of your business." Sirius said from the side.

This immediately ignited Scrimgeour's anger.

"Perhaps you have forgotten that I am the Minister of Magic!" he roared, and the snow on the eaves trembled and fell down.

"Dumbledore has his reasons for not telling you these things. You should go talk to him." Hermione was neither humble nor arrogant, and was not affected by Scrimgeour's emotions at all.

"So, you want to be like your hero Dumbledore—and leave the Ministry of Magic?"

"I don't want to be taken advantage of."

"You are being used by Muggles right now!" Scrimgeour said grimly. "They are promoting you with such fanfare and giving you all kinds of titles, aren't they just using you as a shield? If the You-Know-Who returns again, who will he want to kill first? Your Highness the Princess?"

"We are mortal enemies of Voldemort, and I have never feared death." Hermione met his gaze with a stern gaze. "Or do you want to use me as well? But they got there first, and you're angry?"

"."

Facing Hermione's gaze, Scrimgeour took a deep breath and calmed himself down, "I shouldn't have said that - it was an inappropriate wording."

"No, it's honest," Hermione said coldly. "It's one of the few truths you've ever told me. You don't care if I live or die, but you care about me helping you defeat Voldemort, telling you his secrets, and maintaining your power. Do Muggles scare you?"

"I think it's a sign of dignity," said Scrimgeour. "Some might say it's a wizard's duty to serve the Ministry."

"The premise is that the Ministry of Magic has the ability to protect its people, and I just can't see that." Hermione said word by word.